A few days after little Luke saw something that gave him a new feeling
of respect for Mother Wa-poose.
He was going up to make her another visit. As he came near the brush
pile, he heard a thump! thump! thump! "That's Mother Wa-poose," said he
to himself, "and she's angry about something. I wonder what can be the
matter."
He went around to the other side of the brush pile and then he knew.
There was Old Klaws the House Cat, his tail twitching and his round eyes
shining hungrily.
Just as the boy caught sight of the old cat, Mother Wa-poose sprang out
of the thicket. She sprang straight at Old Klaws. The cat snarled and
shrank to one side. But Mother Wa-poose was too quick for him. As she
went over, she struck him a sounding thwack with her hind feet. It
fairly made the old cat's ribs crack, and he rolled over and over down
the slope. In a second he sprang up, snarling and spitting. Again Mother
Wa-poose sprang at him. This time she hit him squarely on the side of
the head. Old Klaws went down, rolling over several times before he
could right himself. The last thwack took all the fight out of him. He
scrambled to his feet and went flying down the hillside at his best
speed.
[Illustration]
"There," said old Mother Wa-poose, "I guess he'll know enough to keep
away from here after this."
"Why, Mother Wa-poose," said the little boy, "I didn't know that you
were such a fighter."
"Well," said Mother Wa-poose, "we of the Wa-poose family never fight if
we can help it. We'd rather run. But we aren't really afraid of anything
our size. And this time I couldn't run. If I had, Old Klaws would surely
have carried off one of my babies. He got one of them this spring. You
remember the one you took away from him. He is grown up and has gone out
into the world for himself now. You know we Wa-pooses have three or four
families each year."
[Illustration]